Scientist’s tea strainer review goes viral

A scientist who used tea strainers for his research sparked a social media storm after posting a review on Amazon.

While other reviews said the tea infusers made a “perfect cuppa”, Graham Birch wrote: “Useful for zoology experiments involving ants or similar social species.”

He said the strainers “worked well”, adding: “Basically ants from one colony were inside the strainers which were then placed in another colony. The holes were small enough to prevent ants from getting in (or out) but large enough to provoke a response from the two groups.”

The review – posted by his dad, whose Amazon account is used by the whole family – was noticed by Twitter users and led to numerous posts under the hashtag #reviewforscience.

Graham, a Masters student in Zoology at the University of Exeter’s Penryn Campus in Cornwall, has been amazed by the reaction to the review, which has been picked up by the Washington Post.

“It’s odd that this got so much attention,” he said.

“Now scientists are getting in touch to ask me about the experiment, and I had to kill the buzz by responding on Amazon that I didn't end up using the tea strainers.”

In his Amazon post explaining why his tea infuser plan didn’t pan out, he finished by writing: “Weird way to get internet famous.”

Graham said lots of scientists use everyday items in their research, but few leave reviews online as they wouldn’t be useful for people using products for their intended purpose.